At the IBBC Autumn Conference in Basrah (4 December 2025), Business Day – Session 1: Ease of Doing Business, chaired by Dr Norman Ricklefs, brought together Lara Hampshire, Sara Akbar, Ardil Salem and Amjad Saeed to examine how Iraq’s regulatory and financial transition is opening new opportunity for investors, financial institutions and local enterprises.

Key shifts creating strategic openings include:

• International investors and growth-focused companies can ride Iraq’s diversification momentum, with non-oil revenues increasing from 7% to 14%, signalling expanding demand across consumer, service and industrial sectors.
• Regulators, consumer-focused agencies and compliant businesses have a shared opportunity to tighten enforcement of consumer protection, curb grey imports and create a level playing field that rewards quality, reliability and standards.
• Lawmakers, regulators and long-term investors can unlock significant value by modernising commercial laws—some over 60 years old—reducing ambiguity, shortening timelines and improving predictability for capital deployment.
• Banks, financial institutions and international lenders stand to gain by leading Iraq’s banking modernisation, lowering transaction friction, improving cross-border fund mobility and enabling larger-scale investment and SME financing.
• Local partners and in-country operators with strong relationship networks, ethical discipline and cultural fluency can secure a clear execution advantage, navigating procedural complexity more effectively and accelerating delivery on the ground.

Read the full insights & takeaways in the document here>>>

 

The Iraq Britain Business Council (IBBC) brings together business, trade, investment and education partners from the UK, Iraq and beyond to support a free, prosperous and diversified Iraq.

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